The Storm is a Forecast

“Even without final answers about the cause of the Texas death toll, one longtime emergency manager said one fact is clear: ‘That many people did not need to die,’ said Michael Coen, who served as FEMA’s chief of staff during the Biden and Obama administrations.” But the sad truth is that we’re setting ourselves up to increase the death tolls of events like the Texas flash floods. The federal government is done with nature, but nature is just getting started with us. Politico: Why Texas’ floods are a warning for the rest of the country.

+ In the short term, potential victims of storms and fires will be at greater risk because of the cutting of government programs. But the attitude that is driving those cuts is part of a much broader long term risk. NYT (Gift Article): Trump Hires Scientists Who Doubt the Consensus on Climate Change.

+ As I mentioned yesterday, we dig into these analyses and try to figure out what went wrong, in part to get some answers before the story moves off the front pages and people stop asking questions, and in part because the science and the politics is easier to consider than the human tragedy, which, like the raging waters of the Guadalupe, is almost impossible to absorb. The River.

+ US Coast Guard rescue swimmer hailed as a hero after saving 165 kids from Texas flooding.